1196 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



the mother or spawn-fish which would be caught only in very small 

 quantities by the hook and line. 



5. The greater part of the mackerel caught by American fishermen on 

 our coasts are, in my opinion, caught inshore. As far as my own obser- 

 vation goes, where there is one mackerel caught outside of three miles from 

 shore, there are fifty mackerel caught within that distance. Almost all 

 the mackerel caught in vessels in which I was employed were caught 

 within three miles of the shore. The herring fishery is altogether an 

 inshore fishery. 



6. The American fishermen catch a considerable amount of bait y 

 especially squid for the cod fishery, in our harbors and bays, but they 

 also buy a very large quantity from our fishermen. The American cod- 

 fishermen cannot carry on the fishery successfully without procuring 

 bait on our shores, or on the shores of Newfoundland. 



7. The privilege of transshipping cargoes on our shores is of vast ad- 

 vantage to American fishermen, that is the mackerel fishermen. By 

 means of this they save from a fortnight to three weeks on each trip they 

 make to the fishing grounds ; and that generally in the best part of the 

 fishing season. 1 have known an American mackereler to get a good 

 trip in the time that another vessel was going home and returning. 



8. During my experience of fifteen years I found that the mackerel 

 are variable, and that they are sometimes scarce for a time, and then 

 come in again as plenty as ever. I do not think that their scarcity in 

 1875 and 1876 is permanent, but I believe that unless the fishery is 

 destroyed by the use of purse seines, the mackerel will again be as 

 plenty as ever. I have understood that this year the mackerel are very 

 plenty in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and I myself have seen the mack- 

 erel along the coast from Halifax to Canso in large numbers in the mouth 

 of June last. 



9. 1 am of opinion that the privilege of fishing in American waters is 

 of no value whatever to Canadians. 



10. According to the best of my belief, at least two hundred and fifty 

 American cod-fishing vessels touch at the shores of Guysborough 

 County each year for bait and supplies. They purchase large quantities 

 of ice at Causo, which is, of course, a valuable privilege to them. 



THOMAS C. EGBERTS. 



The said Thomas C. Roberts was sworn to the truth of this affidavit, 

 at Halifax, in the county of Halifax, on the 18th day of August, A. D. 

 1877, before me. 



WILLIAM WILSON, 



A Justice of the Peace. 



No. 81. 



In the matter of the Fisheries Commission at Halifax, under the Treaty 



of Washington. 



I. JAMES SIMON RICHARD, of Getson's Cove, in the county of Luiien- 

 burg, master mariner, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been engaged in the fisheries for twenty-five years, down to 

 August, A. D. 1876. For fifteen years I have fished as master. I fished 

 around the coast of Cape Breton, on the eastern side of New Bruns- 

 wick, around Prince Edward Island, the Magdalenes, and on the Cana- 

 dian coast of Labrador, along the southern coast of Nova Scotia, and 

 am well acquainted with the inshore fisheries in Lunenburg County. I 

 have taken all the kinds of fish found on the above-mentioned coasts. 



